Improvement in sheet-metal cans



B. A. LELAND. Sheet-Metal Can.

No. 198,305. Patented Dec; 18,1871.

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EDWIN A. LELAN'D, OF NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO LEONARD RICHARDSON,

' OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHEET-METAL CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,305, dated December18, 12377; application filed November 3, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN A. LELAND, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented an Improvementin Sheet-Metal Cans, of which thefollowing is a specification:

This inventionv relates to that class of hermetically-sealed cans inwhich a sealing-strip is soldered between the slip-cover of the can andthe body thereof in such manner that, by tearing off the sealing-strip,the soldered joint is broken or destroyed between the cover and thebody, to permit the removal of the former; and its object is to providean easy and eflicient means of removing the strip, when desired, withoutthe employment of a projecting lip thereto, which, in practice, isemployed to be broken ofi or to project in the way during the handlingof the can. V

Figure l is a side View of a can made according to my invention,hermetically closed for storage or transportation. Fig. 2 is a centrallongitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view, showing theposition of the sealing-strip when partially detached in the opening ofthe can.

A is the body, and B the slip-cover of the can, which may be of anysuitable or ordinary construction, the body, however, being providedwith a circumferential rib, a, ata slight distance below the lower edgeof the flange q of the cover B. O is the sealing-strip, placed upon thecircumference of the flange b, as representedin the drawings; but (andthis must be especially kept in mind) the said sealingstrip has itsinner circumference soldered to the lower edge of the flange b, whilethe upper edge of said sealing-strip remains unsoldered to the saidflange. This is done before the cover B and the sealing-strip attachedthereto is applied to the body A. The cover and the sealing-strip,soldered together, as just explained, are then placed upon the top orupper part of the can, with the lower edge of the sealing-strip lappedupon, and nearly or quite in contact with, the outer surface of the riba, the said lower edge of the sealing-strip being then soldered directto the said rib.

It is also to be observed that the opposite ends of the sealing-strip,Where they come together after being passed around the flange b, arebutt-jointed against each other, or lapped upon each other and solderedfast without any projecting lip.

In order to detach the sealing-strip it is only necessary to insert thepoint of a knife-blade or other suitable implement Within or inside ofthe unsoldered upper edge of the sealingstrip adjacent to the pointwhere the two ends of said sealing-strip come together. This enables aleverage to be exerted upon one or the other end portions of thesealing-strip, as the case may be, which enables it to be readily andconveniently detached; and this end portion, being thus separated, thesealin g-strip is then rapidly and readily torn away, leaving theslip-cover upon the top of the can, in the same manner as is the casewith an ordinary tin can, so that the can may then be opened by simplyremoving the slip-cover in the usual way.

What I claim as my invention is- In a sheet-metal can of the classindicated, the sealing-strip (7, having its inner surface soldereddirect to the lower edge of the flange b of the cover B, and its upperedge unsoldered or free from the said flange, to permit the insertion ofthe point of a knife or other instrument, substantially as and for thepurpose herein set forth.

ED WIN A. LELAND.

Witnesses EDWARD HOLLY, H. WELLs, Jr.

